Tripura judge punished for drunken driving, increments withheld

Tripura high court decided to withhold two increments of salaries of Motom Debbarma for driving his private vehicle recklessly and dangerously in a drunken condition in June 2014.

The Tripura high court has punished a local court judge for drunken driving, a court notification said on Monday.

The judge was found to have driven his private vehicle recklessly and dangerously in a drunken condition in June 2014. (AP/ Representational Photo)

“After a thorough investigation, the full court of the Tripura high court led by Chief Justice T Vaiphei has decided to withhold two increments of salaries of Motom Debbarma for driving his private vehicle recklessly and dangerously in a drunken condition on the midnight of June 6, 2014,” the notification said.

The notification, issued by the high court’s registrar general Satya Gopal Chattopadhyay said that Debbarma, the then civil judge-cum-judicial magistrate (first class) in Bishalgarh in Sepahijala district and now sub-divisional judicial magistrate-cum-civil judge in Kanchanpur in north Tripura district, has confessed to his guilt.

A high court official said that after the drunken driving incident, the judge was arrested and was in police custody for about 10 hours.

He said that Debbarma did not inform about the incident and his subsequent arrest by police to the higher authorities and that he also violated rules.